Un-brella by Scott E. Franson.

This wordless picture book is pure imagination.  It features a little girl who has a magical umbrella that changes the season.  So when she sees it is snowing out, she puts on her sunglasses, swimsuit and flippers.  She heads into the snow, opens her umbrella and suddenly grass is green, flowers are blooming and the sun is bright in a small area around her.  The book then shows her in the hot summer sun wearing all of her winter clothing and holding her umbrella, creating winter all around her.

The appeal of this book is in both the content and the illustrations.  The concept of being able to create your own season will be appealing to children and to have it connected to an umbrella is marvelous, because that is what umbrellas do to a smaller extent.  The illustrations feature sharp, computer graphics.  My favorite spreads are the pictures from above showing the path she has taken carving green grass out of the snow or snow out of the green grass. 

This is a charming book.  Being wordless, I would recommend it as a lap read rather than one to use with a group.  It’s friendly cover will get it snatched off of library shelves.

Buried by Robin Merrow MacCready.

Claudine has been her alcoholic mother’s support and keeper since she was a small child.   Her mother had been clean for almost a year when she left Claudine.  Claudine builds a story around her mother going to rehab in one of the most prestigious clinics in the area, making it seem as if everything is fine and under control.  But they aren’t.  Claudine begins to forget things, agonizing over stains in the carpet and clean cupboards.  Her school work suffers, and she keeps waking up covered in dirt.  The novel is a grippingly slow look at a girl trapped in a situation where she cannot admit the truth.

The author has created a novel of suspense and mystery wrapped in the guise of a teen situational novel.  Teen readers of both genres will appreciate the skillful storytelling, detailed and complete characterizations, and Claudine as the perfect flawed lens through which to view her own life. 

I don’t want to give many details here because the book has such an intense and agonizing story.  No spoilers here!  Just know that it will keep you reading almost straight through just so you can know how it all turns out.  What more could you ask for in a novel?

Bounce by Natasha Friend.

Published September 2007.

I really enjoyed Friend’s Lush, a story of an alcoholic teen, and this book is another winner. 

Evyn’s father is marrying a woman that she has never met and dragging her and her brother to another city to live with the woman and her five children!  Evyn, who just wants to be back in her normal life with her best friend, finds herself in a room with twin teen sisters and her best friend seems to be building a life without her.  Evyn’s stepbrother is considered one of the hottest boys their age, and she is drawn into a strained friendship with the most popular girls in her new school.  It isn’t until Evyn is true to herself and discovers who she really is that she learns how to bounce back.

Friend’s writing is just so crystal clear and clean.  It makes reading a real joy and will appeal to girls who read lighter fiction, even though there is plenty here to dig into.  Her characters are equally well rendered with personalities that grow and change but in the most believable ways possible.  I particularly enjoyed this large step family of teenagers who are all so very different and uniquely drawn.  That alone speaks to the skill of Friend’s writing.

Recommended for girls who read books like Gossip Girl, or The Clique.  This could serve as a great gateway to better literature with its friendly subject matter but also depth.

Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little by Peggy Gifford, photographs by Valorie Fisher. 

This goes down as one of my favorite books for elementary school readers this year. 

Let’s first talk about the glory of the cover.  There is Moxy with her tattered copy of Stuart Little, held upside down.  And the look on her face is priceless.  It is a treat to see a cover that so wonderfully speaks to the content of the book itself.  To love this cover is to love this book.

A perfect summertime read, we follow Moxy as she wrestles with having to read Stuart Little over the summer.  Moxy has now procrastinated until it is the final day of summer vacation and she has yet to even start reading the book.  She has carried it with her all summer long, but seems to continue to find reasons that she cannot start it quite yet.  The book features her final day of the summer which she spends in a variety of ways that do not get her book read. 

This is a laugh-out-loud type of book.  Just the chapter titles will get you grinning and then the prose itself will work its magic.  The chapters are short, very short in some cases, and they make the book even more pleasurable for young readers.  Moxy is a true character who will speak to all children who have had to do anything by a deadline.  Her parents are real people as are her siblings.  The entire family is a joy to read about. 

Moxy’s overall love of reading is one feature that demonstrates how skillfully crafted this small book is.  It would have been much easier and obvious to have Moxy hate reading altogether, but Moxy just doesn’t like being told what to do.  This small detail speaks volumes about her character and adds depth to the book.  So often Gifford chooses her characters over the obvious, much to her credit.

With its friendly print size, short chapters and plenty of photographs, this book is a great summer read for children in elementary school.  If you have a child participating in summer reading program, this book should be handed to them.  Tiptoe quietly away and wait for the giggles of glee to start.

I also see that a sequel will be coming out in 2008!  Something to definitely look forward to.

Up, Down and Around by Katherine Ayres, illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott.

There is just something about gardening picture books that I adore.  Hmm.  Maybe it has something to do with my obvious love of bunny books.  Ah well.

This book by Ayres works on many levels.  It is a rollicking, rhyming book with a focus on whether a specific vegetable grows up, down or around.  There is corn, carrots, cucumbers, peppers, potatoes and pumpkins, and many more. 

With Westcott’s friendly illustrations filled with smiling bugs, hungry rabbits, flitting crows, and grinning children, it is a visual treat.  Ayres’ rhymes are such fun, with repetition and using the same initial sounds.  Toddlers and preschoolers will be drawn in immediately.

This picture book offers a friendly look at prepositions, a glimpse at gardening, and rhymes.  It is perfect to add to your gardening storytimes, especially for the youngest listeners. 

A Perfect Day by Remy Charlip.

A father and sun have a glorious day together just imagining, cuddling, napping, seeing friends, reading and playing together.  It is a wonderful example of a quiet book perfect for starting a conversation about quiet days spent in one another’s company. 

This is a good book for toddlers and preschoolers, with its few words per page.  Parents and other adults will also enjoy it because it speaks to a day filled with quiet pursuits and not video games and TV.  Don’t we all wish for more days filled with nothing but time?  I also appreciate the gentleness of the illustrations which are soft, pastel and echo the peace of the day completely. 

Recommend this one to busy families rushed off of their feet.  I would also share this as a prequel to an art project with little children who can draw pictures of their favorite quiet activity that they share with loved ones.

Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug by Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash.

Now I am a complete sucker for wordless books, but this one is a very funny book that will have children from preschool to elementary school laughing out loud and sharing it with friends and family.  Look at that cover!  Don’t you want a copy to take a look at right now?  (Run, don’t walk, to the library!)

Bow-Wow is bothered by a bug right from the start of his day.  When the bugs leaves, Bow-Wow follows it outside and down the sidewalk.  As he follows the bug, he finds all sorts of hilarious things happening.  A spotted dog with odd spots, another dog following a bug, huge bugs and huge dogs, and much more.  The illustrations are surprising, funny and very welcoming for children.  The format of a comic strip makes it even more wonderful.  Each turn of the page will bring a new surprise and it becomes a treat to look forward to the next pair of pages. 

Bow-Wow can be offered to a wide range of ages and they will all enjoy it.  It is not for sharing with a group, because the illustrations need to be looked at closely to be fully appreciated.  Give this one to grandchildren, siblings, or save it for a day of travel.  Or just make any bedtime special as long as you are willing to risk gales of laughter.

Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett.

I had read wonderful reviews of this, and had been waiting with great impatience to finally see it.  This book is charming!  It uses the same four words in different combinations to create a silly, warm picture book.  Starting with just one word and picture on each page, the book quickly moves to strange combinations like Orange pear and Apple bear that will have kids giggling. 

I have a few favorite things about this book.  First is that it is so welcoming to emergent readers and has a limited vocabulary.  However, the book reads as if it has all of the words in the world and just happens to choose these four again and again.  Second, I love the artwork.  Unlike a lot of the books for beginning readers, this book has pictures that are not cartoony, but rather have a feel of art and depth.  It is a joy to see.  And third, the skill that it takes for an author to create a book like this is astonishing.  Applause!  Applause!

Recommended for all kindergarten classrooms, this would make a great gift for any Kindergarten teacher to have in her room.  Where else are you going to find an artistic, silly, and yes classy emergent reader?

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy.

Stephanie’s beloved uncle has died and left his old house to her.  While she is there alone one night, someone tries to break in and kill her for a key.  The strange man she noticed at the funeral and at the reading of the will shows up and rescues her by shooting fire from his hands.  When his disguise slips off, she realizes he is a living skeleton.  (See cover image.)  Stephanie is drawn into a hidden world of magic, fantasy and a mystery that could destroy everything, and finds it impossible to return to her normal life of a 12-year-old girl. 

Landy has reinvented fantasy, turned it on its head, and created something entirely engaging, unique and marvelous.  Skulduggery Pleasant is a complex hero, filled with caustic wit, who is the perfect lens through which the readers and Stephanie can discover the fantasy world.  Stephanie is a protagonist with real guts and bravery, who doesn’t consider herself anything special.  She is a refreshing female character, who is not overly girly or overly tomboy, but a regular girl who is thrilled to be on an adventure.  

The fantasy world that Landy has created is inventive and original, but still hearkens back to more traditional stories.  One good example of this are the vampires who are night security guards.  Landy has taken their original details, kept what he needed and discarded the rest.  In essence, he has reinvented vampires, shifting even the most embedded facts of their legends.  This demonstrates his skill as an author, because nothing is sacred or unchangeable in this novel.

Recommend this to middle schoolers who enjoy a book with a good amount of violence.  And remember, despite the fantasy setting, this violence reads as dramatically real.  This is not cartoon violence that younger good readers should be reading.  I would also recommend it to preteens and teens looking for a good, original fantasy novel.  Any kids who enjoyed The Last Apprentice Series by Joseph Delaney or Monster Blood Tattoo by DM Cornish will enjoy this one.